Pages

Sunday, March 16, 2014

Hey there! So two weeks ago my MoYou order came in and I've been looking forward to trying them out ever since! I got the chance today and for my first attempt with stamping, I'd have to say that I am pleased with the quality of the stamping system but hoping to improve on my stamping technique :)

For this mani I unearthed some of my older bottles from the bottom of my bin. They were excited to see the light of day :) I used three colors: Barielle Jess' Champagne Toast on my pointer and pinky, Ulta Purple Haze on my thumb and ring finger, and Revlon No Shrinking Violet on my middle finger. I used the Sailor Collection plate #03, the image in the middle row, second from the right, and stamped it in No Shrinking Violet on top of my ring finger. Unfortunately the stamp didn't quite cover the whole nail, as I had been afraid that it might not. I think this is partially due to the fact that the actual image isn't much bigger than my nail, but also due to the fact that I didn't have it quite centered. As my husband reminded me, it's about progress :) Also, the contrast between the light purple on my nail and the dark purple on the stamp image isn't quite as noticeable as I thought it might be. Since the stamp image is a little wonky though I guess that works out for the best! Once I really get the hang of this I'll do some white and black stamping or other stuff that'll really pop! I coated everything in two coats of Seche Vite which I treated myself to this weekend :)

First off - I felt so silly on Friday... for some reason when I did my last mani on 3/9 I was thinking that St. Patty's Day was 3/14. It wasn't until Friday that I realized St. Patty's Day is 3/17! Whoops :) Guess I was a little ahead of the game on that one.

Secondly - wow! That China Glaze Paper Chasing stained my nails something fierce!!! I had to post this pic because it is just too gross/funny! :P

Sunday, March 9, 2014

It may be five days away, but I. Am. Ready!!! Happy St. Patty's Day!!!

I know, I know... in my last post I couldn't stop talking about how excited I was to try out the new MoYou plates I'd just bought. But last week I also kept thinking about how I wanted to do a special St. Patty's Day mani, and with work and my schedule I knew I wouldn't have time to do anything this Wednesday or Thursday evening. So I decided to just get ahead of the game and do my St. Patty's mani a bit early. Hopefully it holds up well and still looks decent by Friday!!!

I created this with China Glaze Paper Chasing on the pinky, pointer, and thumb; Sally Hansen Triple Shine Kelp Out on my ring finger; and Orly White Tips on the middle finger. The clover is Paper Chasing and on the pinky & pointer I added a "pot of gold" with Orly Too Fab. And of course I couldn't stop there so I added some emerald green rhinestones on my ring finger! Too much??? ;)

I am pretty pleased with how the clover turned out. I know it's not much yet but it's my first "freehand art". Also, I think Paper Chasing is an amazing green, and although it's not really in my wheelhouse I would totally wear this all by itself!

Monday, March 3, 2014

I am psyched!!! I placed an order for a stamper and two stamping plates and they are here!!! I did a lot of "research" before deciding which brand to go with - I looked at Konad, Bundle Monster, and MoYou. Ultimately I went with MoYou. I hate to be sucked in by marketing and appearances (you'll never see me with an iphone), but despite the fact that their brand identity is to-die-for, it seems like they have a quality product to back it up. Now I haven't used them yet, so I can't attest to this myself, but as I said I did a lot of "research" ;) Stay tuned to my next post this weekend for my first ever stamping mani!!!

So here is my purchase:

As I said, the brand is awesome! They have several collections of plates, each one is themed and has a mascot to represent that theme. My fave collection I think is Sailor, brought to you by the lovely Olive! Isn't she cute :)

From this collection I went with a regular image plate (# 03) which has 18 images on it.

I don't think of myself as having long nails, but I was nervous that the regular plates (image size 12x15mm) would be cutting it really close... especially since I'm a noob to stamping, I thought it might be hard to line up the image on the nail. That said, I also wanted to try an XL image plate (image size 15x22mm) which as 12 images on it. I went with the Pro Collection (# 05).

I am super excited to try these out! I know people have said that stamping, like just about anything in life, takes practice to perfect... hopefully the OCD doesn't come out too bad, or else I know I'll get really frustrated and turned off from stamping. But even if I do, I'm sure these beautiful designs will tempt me into coming back to try it again :)
Thank you to Sammy for the great review and for the coupon code! Who doesn't love that? :)

Sunday, March 2, 2014

Since I started this blog the hubs has been pretty supportive of my endeavors! He even helped me do the dots on my right hand one time. (Since I'm right handed and wasn't feeling too confident in my abilities to keep my left hand steady.) He came up with this idea of doing a "laser" manicure a while back, and every time I did something else he kept saying "You should do the lasers!". Somewhere between his description of what a laser manicure is, and various images I showed him from Pinterest, I ended up with this:

This is two base coats of Orly White Tips with one thick coat of Orly Royal Navy. I used striping tape on top of the white to create the "lasers" before putting on the blue. Royal Navy is a gorg shade of blue. It is a jelly, a little brighter than what I typically think of as royal blue, and definitely not a navy blue! It has some shimmery/sparkly aqua bits in it that really add to the beauty. I was surprised that it dried a bit dull, but with a bit of shiny top coat it's all good!

I titled this post laser cats because it's hard for me to say laser manicure without thinking about laser cats. Ya know, the digital short featuring Andy Samberg and Bill Hader and, ya know, laser cats??? Maybe next time I do a laser manicure I'll add an accent nail with a cat on it. Something cute like this, or maybe more appropriately something a little sneaky looking like this. :)

Oh yeh, and what do you think about my new shorties? I filed down my left hand a good bit after yesterday's post. They are still a tad longer than my right hand, but the difference between the two hands is not nearly as noticeable. Till next time!

Saturday, March 1, 2014

I have been working really hard since I started this blog to grow my nails long... taking special care to keep them nicely buffed and filed so as to avoid snags, peeling, and breaking; always having them polished so that they are "thicker" and less likely to break; and using OPI Nail Envy in between polishes to help make them stronger. The nails on my left hand have respectfully obeyed my wishes, and I think they look quite nice. The nails on my right hand however are unfortunately misbehaving. (Nasty little buggers!) This past week, first the nail on my pointer finger broke, then the next day the middle nail broke, then the next day the nail on my index finger broke! I couldn't believe it. This is how they look now:

I don't know what it is, maybe because I'm a Jersey girl at heart, but for whatever reason I associate long nails with nice nails. I found this interesting and informative post by Bee from BeePolished about nail length. Based on what she says, I have short nail beds. In order for nails to look "proportional", they need to be about twice as long as they are wide. So that also kind of explains why I like my nails when they are long -- my short nail beds mean they need to be grown out in order to be proportional!

As much as I hate to do it, I'm going to have to file down the nails on my left hand :( There may be a while where they don't quite look proportional, but as much as it pains me to get rid of the length on my left hand I have to admit that my hands look a bit silly with long nails on one hand and short little nails on the other. So for now I think symmetry between the hands trumps proportion :P

Search This Blog

About Me

My profile picture is of me on the happiest day of my life - the day I got married to my wonderful husband.
I was pretty proud of how beautiful I looked that day, my hands included! You see, my hands haven't always looked too good (and even these days there are times when they don't) because I am a compulsive skin picker. But I am getting better, and my adventures and obsessions with polish are helping me along! :)